NEW ORLEANS -- Alabama fans wake up today fresh off a second national championship in the last 24 months.

But the Crimson Tide's dominating performance in the Rematch of the Century is not the best news for the Alabama faithful this morning. Because as good as the Crimson Tide has been in the recent past -- winning 48 of its last 54 games to go with two of the last three BCS titles -- the future looks even brighter.

Forget for a moment all the high NFL draft picks who played their last game for the Crimson Tide Monday night (which almost certainly includes junior stars Trent Richardson and Dont'a Hightower). There's time to identify the next generation of Alabama blue-chip recruits who have been groomed for their turn.

There are only two ways the Crimson Tide won't be contending consistently for national championships over the next decade:

1. If Nick Saban decides he would rather spend time talking to the frogs at his Lake Burton house instead of another 6-foot-5, 300-pound, 5-star recruit.

2. Those crazy Mayans were right.

Otherwise, the program Saban has now established is built to last. Alabama's six losses over the last four seasons have been to national champion Florida and top-5 Utah in 2008, national champion Auburn, LSU and South Carolina in 2010, and No. 1 LSU in 2011.

As good as Alabama was in 2009, this Crimson Tide team was better. The earlier loss to LSU makes any comparisons to the greatest seasons in school history a moot argument. But that doesn't mean the 2011 Alabama defense has to take a back seat to any that has ever played the game.

In an era when Baylor and Washington scored 123 points in the Alamo Bowl last month, the Crimson Tide surrendered only 106 points all season, including no offensive touchdowns allowed in its final two games.

Against the team that was clearly the second best in college football this season, Alabama allowed LSU nine total points in more than eight quarters of play.

The stars for the Crimson Tide Monday night included the predictable (such as Courtney Upshaw looking like the sure-fire first-round NFL pick he is) to the unlikely (sophomore receiver Kevin Norwood of D'Iberville, Miss., who led all receivers with 78 yards).

The play of offensive MVP AJ McCarron was a surprise only to those who haven't been paying close enough attention. McCarron's 234 passing yards in the 21-0 victory were more than the most recent Alabama championship quarterbacks -- Greg McElroy (58), Jay Barker (18) and Steadman Shealy (70) -- combined. The major difference between this game and the last against LSU for the former St. Paul's star was that he was given a game plan Monday night that gave him a better chance to succeed.

"We wanted to come out and dominate from the start to finish and that's what we did," Upshaw said.

That domination may or may not continue into next season. Despite the domination in the title game, LSU is still just as good a bet as Alabama to be holding the crystal football after next season.

But Alabama is the champion of college football today. And the Crimson Tide should be contending well into the future.